This Is How It Goes
by secretly-eager-to-please077
Summary: Not your typical 20 years later story. Follow Max and Fang as they lose each other. But when the 20 years is up, things change and people are broken. Rated K plus for now, but will change as the story goes on. Enjoy!


**Chapter One: A Letter To Show Love**

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_February 16, 2014_

_Max, it's been almost two years since I've last seen you, and I don't know if you're still mad at me. I really hope that by now, you've forgiven me. The reason I'm writing you Max, is because I miss you. I miss you so badly everyday Maximum. I'm sorry that things had to end this way, if I could change the fold of events in our past, so we could stay together, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Please believe that I never wanted to hurt you, I made some mistakes and so did you. I could sit here and write to you for hours. I have so much to tell you, the battles we've through, the progress we've made, and all the supporters we have. But the last things I want to waste precious paper space to you on are those things. I've been doing well, and I so hope that you and the flock are all right too. No tragedies to report, I hope you have none either. Everything is business as usual here; Rachet and Star go at it like cats and dogs till Kate steps in and defuses the sitch. Then of course Rachet will flirt with her till the cows come home. Holden still looks pre-pubescent (ha-ha) and Maya is well, she's good. Anyways, I hope you'll write me back sometime with an update on everything. I love you Max…_

_Fang~_

Max read and re-read the letter three times before her brain caught up with her eyes. She couldn't believe that the letter, this letter, from Fang had come in her personal P.O. Box. The letter had come a week earlier, but when she'd first seen it, she had set it aside in a daze. She had forgotten it until she cleaned off the small desk in her room.

Taking the small, nondescript envelope with his name and own P.O. Box address, she contemplated writing him back then. Shaking her head, she set down the white wrappings and stood.

Pacing the short length of her bedroom was doing nothing for the jittery feeling, just under her skin. Max needed to talk to someone about this, but whom? First off the list: Dylan. She barely talked to him as it was, let alone about Fang of all people. Iggy? Nah, too awkward. Nudge? No, she'd end up telling everyone. Got it!

Max hurriedly walked down the corridor of their semi-large house that she and Iggy legally owned. Being eighteen and all, they could do that kind of stuff now. Max lightly rapped on the door half way down the hallway. The door was answered by none other than little Angel.

Angel offered a small smile and opened the door wider for Max to enter. Max plopped into the small desk chair nest to Angel's bed, where Angel perched herself, looking much like a bird ready for flight.

Silently, Max handed Fang's letter to the small child. Quietly, she read and re-read the letter. She sighed and fell back onto her bed, glancing at the letter every now and then. After quite a few pregnant minutes, Max couldn't take it anymore.

"So what do you think Angel?" Max burst, rubbing the fatigue away.

Angel sat up and looked at her, "well, I think he'd like to talk back and forth through letter that you send to each other. Through the National Post-," the young girl stopped when she saw the look Max was giving her. "What? Do you think I'm wrong?"

"I _know_ he wants to write letters back and forth. My question is _why_?" Max heaved an exasperated breath.

The younger blinked her eyes, "I'd think that were quite obvious too," she scratched her cheek lazily. "He still loves you Max. Of course he still loves you, and I know you still love him too," she looked in to Max's eyes. "Just write him, keep him around as long as you can. You miss him, maybe this'll help you."

Max stared at the nine year-old, it still amazed her how smart and grown up she could be at such a young age. Nodding her head with resolve she stated, "You're right. I'll write him back when I have the time. Thanks Angel." Max ruffled her curly blonde hair and slowly walked back to her room.

Now, what to write?

~0.o~

He knew that it'd probably take Max awhile to write him back, but he didn't think it'd take _this_ long. It'd been two weeks since he sent that letter to her. Had she even gotten it? Of course Fang had done his research; she's the only one that has access to that P.O. Box. So it's not like someone could've found it and not given it to her.

Fang leaned back in the desk chair he sat in. He had his laptop open, and had just posted on his blog. The comments and questions were already pouring in. One girl, called 'FaxToTheMax' asked: _Why are you still away from the flock? You're supposed to be there for Max!_ Sighing, he poised for his answer.

_Dear FaxToTheMax, I left the flock two years ago, from what I can gather, Max and the flock are doing just fine without me. I have my own people to care for now._

_Fang~_

Not but a minute later, she commented back with: _You're stupid to think that Max would be all right without you. Just because she keeps moving, doesn't mean she's alive. Just saying._

Fang closed his laptop, and then lay down on his bed, gazing at the ceiling. He couldn't stop thinking about Max and how she's yet to send a letter back.

A crash from the other room had Fang snapping out of his thoughts. The crash was followed by loud shouts from various parties, one noticeable deeper than the other. 'Must be Rachet and Star fighting again.' Heaving a sigh, much like he remembered Max doing when fights broke out in the flock, he made his way out to the living room.

"What the hell is going on out here? Can I not have a single moment of peace?" Fang had his hands on his hips, so much of the way Fang leads he got from watching Max. Damn he missed her, and her drill Sargent ways. But she had things to do, and she couldn't keep getting distracted by him.

Rachet spoke up first, "gosh, take a chill pill Fang. What's got you so uptight today? No, actually you've been like this for weeks now.

"I agree, you've been very snippy lately, are you all right?" Star looked at him concerned. Her worry touched him, but not enough to tell her about Max. None of them would understand, especially not Maya.

"I'm fine, just like I told you all the six times you asked," Fang knew he was being "snippy" as Star called it, but he didn't rightly care at the moment. Fang stalked away, back to his room for more useless thinking. The rest stared after him, till he closed the door quietly behind him.

"What do you think is wrong with him?" Kate asked. Rachet and Star look to each other, then to Kate.

"No idea," Star.

"Not a clue," Rachet.

Kate sighed, "me either."

~0.o~

It's been a week since Max opened Fang's letter, she hadn't meant to wait so long to write him back. He probably thought she wasn't going to at all, but she'd been so busy with all the saving-the-world stuff. Max was going to write him back first thing tomorrow, as for today, she still had things to do.

As Max wrote, so many thought filled her mind, so much to write, but only so much space. She wanted the letter to mean something to him. She wanted Fang to always remember her, in case they never saw each other again.

The more words she out to paper, the harder it was to breathe. The things she was writing weren't particularly sad, but the fact she had to tell him, instead of being here to see for his self, broke her heart. Max wrote slowly, wanting to convey through her words, a message she couldn't rightly state.

He wasn't there for her anymore; only through these letters could she be with him. How sad that made her… Tears welled in her eyes as a sob wracked her chest. No! This was _not_ how it was supposed to be!

She heaved herself out of her desk chair, letting her pen fall where it may. Throwing open her window, she hurdled herself in to the air, snapping out her wings in a flash of white and brown. On a fierce down stroke, Max blasted through the open sky. Speeding through the air like a bullet, she let out her anger and sadness. Max flew and practiced her flight technics, gliding left and turning sharply to the right. Folding in her wings and plummeting 60 yards, then pushing out her wings and soaring towards the heavens.

After an hour or two of flying, she landed in a cave high in a mountain they lived by. She collapsed to her hands and knees, her breath coming in ragged. Max's eyes stung and the lump in her throat choked her. With a deep breath, as much as her lungs could hold, she screamed. Screamed, and then screamed again until her voice became hoarse and all she could do was sob.

Tears mercilessly fell down her cheeks, soaking into the ground between her hands. Balling her fist, Max punched the ground with all her inhuman strength. She felt the shatter of bone on impact, feel the pain. Choosing to ignore it, she pounded the ground again; it reverberated up her arm, to her shoulder. Still it couldn't compare to the feeling in her chest; the heartache Fang had left with her two years ago.

Taking a deep steading breath, Max fell to her side on the hard ground. How familiar it was to lay on the hard rock. How many times had Fang and herself stayed up to watch the flock? Talking to him about their next move, about what happened that day, about anything really. How many stupid jokes had they told? How many times did she cry on Fang's shoulder while the others slept? Rolling onto her back, Max cradled her throbbing hand to her chest. Tears welled in her eyes again, and slipped down, pooling in her ears.

"Fang…," Max mumbled. "Fang what happened? I love you so much, why did you leave me?"

"Max..?" The sudden voice scared her into a sitting position. Max looked around for the owner of the voice, and found Nudge standing at the mouth of the small cave.

"N-Nudge!" Max hurriedly wiped her face clean of tears, careful of her broken hand. "What're you doing here? How long have you been standing there?"

The fourteen, dark-skinned girl looked at Max with pain in her eyes. "We were supposed to go shopping today, you promised last week..," Nudge fiddled with her fingers nervously, "we don't have to go if you're not feeling well. No big problem."

Again, Max was amazed at the maturity level of such a young woman. She could see in Nudge's eyes that she really had no problem with her skipping out today, which made her feel, guilty. Sighing and slipping on a small sincere smile, Max got up.

Hefting herself up, Max said, "No, no, I promised. I just need to go see mom for a sec," she held up her hurt hand, "I got a booboo." Nudge looked concerned, but she couldn't control her happiness that Max was going. She's really missed Max the last couple years. Though she was here, most times it was like she was just going through the motions. Nudge, took to the air and sped back to the house to tell the girls it was a go. But in the very back of her mind, she wondered if Fang was just as torn up as Max. Too bad there's no way she can get that knowledge.

~0.o~

Fang felt a sharp pain in his chest, right over his heart. Rubbing at the spot, like that might help the pain go away. Maybe at that moment, she was missing him too…

He had just gotten back with the others from a rally in support of them and what they were doing. So many people had come; he knew they'd have so many more as time went on. There was no stopping the movement he had caused. Fang smiled to his self, Max didn't want this at first, but if she saw this now, she'd be shocked. He wondered if she read his blog, but she never liked it anyway.

When Fang got to the house, he went straight to his room to post in his blog about how wonderful the rally had been. They had had rallies before, but none had turned out as big as this, and he needed to thank everyone for attending. After that, he went out to the living room and announced he'd be back in a couple minutes.

Fang flew to the local Post Office and landed softly behind it, and walked around front. He went to his mailbox, and removed a stack of fan letters and minor bills; one in particular caught his attention.

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**And that's chapter one. It's kinda short, but I like it (: Let me know what y'all think. REVIEW**


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